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The Offer
- United is offering a 5x miles when you add funds to your TravelBank
The Fine Print
- Members can choose from six purchase amount options and once purchased the value remains valid for five years from the date it is deposited in your TravelBank account.
- Purchases made between September 17, 2020, at 12:01am CT and September 23, 2020, at 11:59pm CT, are eligible for a deposit of MileagePlus miles equal to five miles for every dollar of TravelBank cash purchased.
- Purchases are not refundable and are limited to $1,000 per promotion per MileagePlus account. This offer is also subject to all of the TravelBank terms and conditions.
Our Verdict
Earlier this year United offered a 10% bonus. I don’t think airlines positions have gotten any stronger so it’s interesting that an even lower bonus is now being offered. It should code as a United purchase. Personally this is an easy skip for me.
Hat tip to reader Brad S
The Travel bank T&C states 18 months expiration. Why does the article say 5 years?
“all accrued TravelBank Cash in an Account is subject to expiration and/or forfeiture for any Member who fails at any time to engage in Account Activity (as defined above) for a period of eighteen (18) consecutive months. “
That basically means you have to keep your MileagePlus account active, either through the accrual of miles or by holding a United CC, without letting it lapse for 18 months. The T&C at the end purchase screen states: “Members can choose from six purchase amount options and once purchased the value remains valid for five years from the date it is deposited in your TravelBank account.”
Still confusing. So for any given chunk of TravelBank Cash, it will expire in 5 years or after any 18 month period of “inactivity” (as defined above), whichever comes first? As in, it’s guaranteed to expire in at most 5 years, but will expire earlier if account is inactive?
For me (and I suspect many others), this seems like effectively 18 months to expiration. My first thought at a solution is to churn the Chase MPE CC (1st AF waived).
DP:
AmEx gold United travel incidental credits works for TravelBank
10/2: Bought $100 in TravelBank funds — UNITED AIRLINES HOUSTON TX
10/5: $100 credit posts — AMEX Airline Fee Reimbursement
PenFed Pathfinder VISA counts this as reimbursable travel expense, for $50 funding.
I was able to use amex gold airline credits for $100 on 9/27
Accidentally purchased before I selected an airline… selected like 5 minutes after. Think I’ll have to do another purchase?
Did a $50 trial travelbank purchase on 9/22 with gold card – got reimbursement on 9/25! Thanks, DoC!
I did two $50 last week on 9/18, one with Amex Hilton Aspire and the other with a Penfed Pathfinder. Both pending charges have disappeared from my cc accounts, and the United account doesn’t have either card stored (it still retains a bunch of cards that I used previously). The $100 fund is still there.
Does anyone know whether this will trigger $100 Airline Incidental Statement Credit from BOA Premium Rewards credit card? Thanks.
Yes, this triggers the Amex airline credit for Platinum. I did the previous promo to take advantage of that. Just make sure you have United as the carrier on your card. If not, you can still change it if it’s unused.
It’s not $140 million, but 5x points is still better than getting dragged off the plane!